Tag: Sustainable packaging

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5 Eco-Friendly Alternatives: From Plastic To Paper

With over 8 million tons of plastic waste polluting our oceans every year, it’s time to ditch single-use plastic and look at more eco-friendly ways to package products that not only helps the planet by reducing our carbon footprint, but also improves overall consumer perception of a company.

With the Plastic Packaging Tax implemented at the beginning of April, there is no better time to consider some of our more popular eco-friendly alternatives to ditch the plastic.

Envelope Mailers

Say goodbye to bubble mailers and hello to recyclable cardboard envelope mailers! Our wide range of mailers provide extra protection that normal envelopes don’t provide and are designed to fit through most letterboxes.

Made with 100% recyclable materials, our mailers are your ideal eco-friendly alternative to plastic mailer bags.

Envelope Mailers are eco-friendly alternatives to bubble mailers.
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Honeycomb Paper Wrap

The perfect eco-friendly alternative to bubble wrap, honeycomb wrap is fantastic for wrapping & packing any product, even if it’s fragile.

Crafted from 100% recyclable and biodegradable paper. Go plastic-free with ease to enhance your green credentials and establish your brand as a forerunner in environmentally friendly initiatives.

Honeycomb paper wrap
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Book Mailers

Reduce excess waste by simply wrapping your product in the flexible corrugated cardboard for all-round protection and a close fit to prevent movement in transit.

With eco-friendly self-adhesive closure tape there is no need for void fill. In addition, ripper-tape makes for easy opening, and the packaging is easy to recycle afterwards.

Book Mailer Packaging
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Triangular Postal Tubes

In comparison to round postal tubes, our triangular tubes are designed with a twin tab locking system so no tape or plastic cap is required to seal them shut, making them fully recyclable and biodegradable.

The other advantage is that triangular postal tubes are easier to store and have a geometric shape to stop rolling around during storage but also provides extra strength too. 

Triangular Postal Tubes
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Eco-Friendly Tape

We have a choice of self-adhesive kraft tapes & gummed paper tapes which offer excellent adhesion whilst considering the environmental footprint.

All of our tapes are eco-friendly & recyclable, making them the perfect replacement for plastic tapes.

Eco-Friendly Tape
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Avoid Plastic Packaging Tax with Sustainable Cardboard Packaging

The Plastic Packaging Tax seeks to encourage the use of recycled plastics and other less environmentally damaging materials, by imposing a tax on plastic packaging manufactured in the UK and also on any packaging imported into the UK, whether as “wholesale” packaging, or as part of the purchase of a product.

As the Plastic Packaging Tax comes into force on 1st April 2022, any business producing or importing plastic packaging will be charged a rate of £200 per tonne on any plastic packaging that’s deemed to be chargeable.

Why switch to cardboard packaging?

A recent survey discovered that UK consumers are willing to act if they don’t think a retailer is doing enough to become more sustainable. 42% of UK consumers would consider avoiding a retailer if they were not trying to reduce their use of non-recyclable packaging. The collection and UK recycling rates for cardboard and paper-based packaging are higher than any other packaging material (85%).

We manufacture our packaging with 100% recyclable FSC Certified materials and additional features such as peel & seal tape are also recyclable and sustainable to our planet.

With this in mind, in addition to the PPT tax coming into force from April onwards, there is no better time to avoid the plastic tax bills and switch to sustainable cardboard packaging today.

For more guidance on the plastic packaging tax, visit the government website here: Plastic Packaging Tax – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Eco-Friendly Cardboard Packaging

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Why choose sustainable e-commerce postal packaging?

What does the data say?

The UK is the world’s third largest market for e-commerce, with e-commerce sales in the UK rising by 35% between 2014-2019. It has been forecast to rise again by a huge 34.7%, from 2019 to the end of 2021.

Whilst e-commerce sales leads to an increase in packaging, this will result in the amount of waste also set to increase. New research from Citeo & Ipsos found that 92% of people expect a package that is appropriately sized for the product. Yet 75% of UK shoppers were left frustrated with excessive packaging and wanted retailers to reduce the volume of packaging used.

A recent survey discovered that UK consumers are willing to act if they don’t think a retailer is doing enough to become more sustainable. 42% of UK consumers would consider avoiding a retailer if they were not trying to reduce their use of non-recyclable packaging.

With the rise in e-commerce not stopping and the importance to reduce unnecessary waste, when possible, the importance of sustainable packaging has become more important than ever before.

What to look out for when securing a sustainable packaging supplier?

To find a trustworthy sustainable packaging supplier, it is important to look out for the companies accreditations and environmental policy.

FSC are deemed as a trustworthy certification, so when a company is FSC Certified, you know you can buy from them with confidence that they are helping to ensure our forests are alive for generations to come. We are proud to be an FSC Certified Manufacturer and we recognise that we have a responsibility to preserve, conserve and sustain the world we live in, both today and for the future, so sustainability is central to everything we do.

Being an FSC certified manufacturer means that we can guarantee you that we supply packaging from a minimum of 70% recycled materials.

We design packaging to minimise its impact on the environment at every stage of the supply chain, specifying eco-friendly board grades and weights and avoiding the use of unnecessary materials.

What are the advantages of sustainable e-commerce packaging?

1. Increasing your brand awareness

A survey Deloitte conducted, showed that over the last 12 months up to 34% of consumers are choosing brands that have environmentally sustainable practices/values.

With consumer behaviour shifting, customers are becoming more conscious of purchasing from brands who use sustainable packaging. Sustainable packaging has become one of the key areas for companies to express their commitment in protecting our environment. It has also become a marketing and branding tool to inform customers that your business truly cares about the environment.

2. Save money

Sustainable packaging materials are normally lightweight and durable, meaning delivery costs can be at a minimum. Additionally, as we can ensure packaging to fit your product rather than supplying over-sized packaging, we will also save you money on cost of material, whilst reducing waste simultaneously.

3. Reduces your carbon footprint

As corrugated packaging is made from recycled materials, this type of packaging is one of the best solutions to lower your carbon footprint.

Here are just some of the ways as to why our packaging is sustainable and can reduce your carbon footprint:

  • 100% recyclable and biodegradable material
  • The precious fibres are recycled to make new corrugated packaging
  • On average, a new box contains 88% recycled content
  • Paper fibres can be recycled 25 times or more
  • Optimising the use of packaging material
  • Easy to sort as mono-material (paper-based materials)
  • Packaging is easily folded and flattened, ready to be collected for recycling.

Interested in switching to sustainable packaging?

If you are looking to switch to sustainable packaging for a certain product, please get in touch with us here so we can help you find the right box for you. Alternatively, please visit our sustainable e-commerce packaging range.

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Sustainability tips for Mother’s Day

It’s that time of the year where we show how much we love, care & appreciate our mums.

However, due to covid-19, things might pan out a little different this year. Every year, ranging from cards to roses, there are many gifts sent out to mums around the world at this time of the year. However, the downside to this, is that this results in huge amounts of CO2 emissions, paper and plastic packaging waste, often sent to landfill. This sounds like a negative response to Mother’s Day, but in actual fact there is no better opportunity than this year to even just consider an eco-friendlier gift to help protect our planet.

Here are some of our sustainable tips for you for Mother’s Day.

1.Ditch the Mother’s Day cards

Did you know that one greetings card produces an estimated 140g of carbon dioxide? This is a huge amount considering that billions of cards are sold worldwide every year. Unless you are extremely sentimental, you probably throw your cards away, or at least store them in a drawer that you only open once in a blue moon.

During covid-19, there has been a huge shift towards online e-commerce and particularly when discussing Mother’s Day cards, e-commerce has helped offer an eco-friendlier alternative to replace paper cards this year. There are now are several online eCard sites available that allows you to personalise & design your own paperless card. In addition to this, a paperless card means no impact on our environment!

If you are someone who has always sent a paper card & appreciates the physical presence of giving your mum a card, then why not make one yourself? A handmade card would be just as meaningful and thoughtful to design one yourself, which again would also play its part in reducing the damaging impact on our environment.  

Mothers Day Cards

2. Homemade jewellery

Most mother’s love jewellery. What better way to show appreciation of your mum on Mother’s Day by sending her a handmade personalised jewellery gift? Although these types of shops may be closed on your local high-street, there are a number of online handmade jewellery gift shops. A number of these handmade jewellery stores are highly ethical for the environment, with recyclable materials and eco-friendly gift jewellery/ gift boxes.

Homemade Jewellery

3. Eco-friendly flowers

Again, with your local florist most likely in temporary lockdown due to the pandemic, there are plenty of e-florists open online. Additionally, some of these e-florists offer eco-friendly flowers, that look just as beautiful as normal ones, but also help reduce the impact on our environment.

Eco-friendly & fair-trade flowers have a lower carbon footprint, use less water and protect our environment.

Eco-Friendly Flowers

4. Reusable Coffee Cup

If your mum is a coffee lover then this would be a perfect gift this Mother’s Day. On average, over 7 million single use coffee cups are consumed each day worldwide. That equated to approximately 2.5 billion per year, at huge costs both financially and environmentally. A reusable coffee cup helps save the disposal of non-recyclable coffee cups that your mum may get through regularly.

Reusable coffee cup

5. Eco-friendly soaps

Natural handmade soaps protect the environment from poisoning it with the toxic chemicals contained in normal soaps. An eco-friendly company called Friendly Soap make their soaps using the cold process method ensuring all soap bars are kind to the skin & easy on the earth. Visit the friendly soap website for more products as they currently have a wide range of soaps perfect for a Mother’s Day gift this year!

Handmade soaps | Natural & clean beautifully with a velvety smooth lather. (friendlysoap.co.uk)

Eco-Friendly Soaps
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Welcome to Weedon Direct

John Weedon, Group Managing Director
John Weedon

“Weedon Direct evolved as a way for us to deliver a new product range designed to support businesses and consumers in the COVID-19 situation, from corrugated desks for home-workers to produce trays for businesses which couldn’t deliver their produce to people quickly enough.

It grew from there into stock boxes and eCommerce packaging as we saw a developing need from small to medium-sized companies which trade online to buy cost-effective, sustainable and quality packaging from a reliable source.

We have been manufacturing for over 30 years and we are very excited about our new online development and what we can bring to the market in terms of sustainable packaging solutions and by enabling you to buy direct from the manufacturer.

I would like to welcome you to have a look around and, if you need any more information, just give us a call and we will be happy to help.”

– John Weedon, Group Managing Director

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Weedon Group x Flexi-Hex

Flexi-Hex bottle packaging

The Weedon Group, the UK’s leading independent manufacturer of corrugated packaging, has joined forces with Flexi-Hex in the development of an innovative new Eco Bottle Packaging Kit, a sustainable solution for the safe shipping of individual bottles via courier or through the post.

Bottles are first wrapped in a Flexi-Hex sleeve which expands to form an impact-resistant protective honeycomb layer around the bottle. This is then inserted into a self-sealing pinch-top postal box, designed and manufactured by the Weedon Group, which protects the bottle by suspending and preventing movement during transportation.

Manufactured from eco-friendly corrugated board, the box’s clever design enables easy assembly, with a fold-in cushion to support the base of the bottle and flaps for closing. It has a pinch-top to lock the bottle in place for a snug, secure fit and is suitable for most sizes of bottle. ‘Peel & seal’ tape provides easy closure, making packaging a very quick and simple process.

The design has been adapted to provide Bottle Packaging Kits in three sizes, for the shipment of one, two or three bottles at a time.

The packaging offers other significant benefits throughout the supply chain including  streamlining the packaging system and a reduction in the number of breakages. The compact design means a reduction in the quantity of material used and the attractive style of the package, which can be customised for brand identity, adds value to the product.

Weedon Group Managing Director John Weedon comments:

“Flexi-Hex was founded by brothers, Sam and Will Boex, who recognised the impact that single use plastic was having on the marine environment. The company needed an outer box which would be quick and easy to assemble. It had to be adaptable for various sizes of bottles and to hold them safe and secure in transit.

“But the overriding requirement, in line with Flexi-Hex’s core policy of environmental protection, was that the boxes had to be 100% recyclable and manufactured from sustainable sources. Corrugated board was the obvious solution. Lightweight, compact and strong, our boxes are 100% sustainable and recyclable, with no plastic anywhere in the packaging. Our design ticks all the boxes.”

For further information, please contact:

John Weedon, Managing Director of the Weedon Group, on 01543 423838.